Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2013

Note to those who enjoyed Disney’s moronic 2010 bastardization of Alice in Wonderland: stop reading now and go waste your money. That this pointless SFX dazzle-over-substance extravaganza even pretends to be a prequel to the 1939 Judy Garland classic is insulting. Expected way better from director Sam Raimi. A smarmy, asinine James Franco, even less convincing than usual (not easy), graces almost every scene, supported by tepid performances by Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, and Michelle Williams. The “plot” is nearly incomprehensible and the 3-D set to cheesy jump-out-at-you mode. Victor Fleming would gag.